This invention relates to laminated bus bars designed for use with electrical power or signal connectors such as the split crown band type, and more particularly to an improved such bar having a male terminal covered by a novel insulation barrier to prevent undesirable shorting of the bus conductors when the terminal is operative in the connector, and to effect proper alignment with the associated connector.
It has long been customary to employ in electrical bus bars elongated strips of insulation between adjacent conductor strips or buses in the bar, including those sections of the strips that are shaped to form terminals which are employed for releasably connecting one circuit to another. One of the major problems heretofore encountered with bus bars designed for use with connectors of the split crown band variety, has been the difficulty in properly insulating a negative bus in the bar from the associated positive bus. Normally these two buses are separated from one another by an intervening layer of insulation, which is secured between the confronting surfaces of the two buses. However, a major problem is encountered when registering end portions of the two buses are designed to form a male terminal for connection with a power supply, such as for example when the terminal has exposed outer surfaces disposed to be releasably inserted into a female receptor or connector of the crown band variety. In such instance, the insulation that is disposed between the two confronting surfaces of the positive and negative bus conductors, frequently does not provide the necessary insulation for preventing undesirable shorting when the male terminal is inserted into or withdrawn from a female type connector.
Still another problem is often encountered when the bus bar includes multiple strip conductors having two or more male terminals designed to be inserted into a common female connector. This problem is exasperated when each terminal comprises a plurality of spaced contacts which must register properly with corresponding contacts in the connector.
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide for use with connectors of the type described, an improved bus bar in which a special novel insulator barrier is employed between and immediately adjacent to the end portions of a pair of conductor strips which are employed to form the male terminal of the bar.
Another object of this invention is to provide for a bus bar of the type described a generally U-shaped insulation barrier which is designed to supplement the insulation between the ends of the positive and negative buses that are to be employed to form a male terminal for connecting the bus bar to the female connector of another circuit.
Still another object of this invention is to provide for bus bars of the type having multiple male terminals for insertion into a common connector, improved insulation barriers which function also to guide spaced contacts of the terminals to engagement with corresponding contacts in the connector.
Other objects of this invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the appended claims, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompany drawings.
The laminated bus bar includes at least two metal strip conductors one of which may be slightly longer and wider than the other, so that when they are laminated together with a layer of insulation therebetween, a marginal edge portion of one conductor extends slightly beyond the edge of the other conductor. One of the two conductors comprises a single contact terminal section overlying a registering one-contact terminal section of the other conductor, or a multiple contact terminal overlying a registering multiple contact terminal of the other conductor, the registering terminal sections having exposed outer surfaces and forming a male terminal disposed to be inserted releasably into a female receptacle or connector of an electric circuit. To prevent the registering one-contact terminals from shorting such circuit, a generally U-shaped dielectric insulator barrier is secured to a marginal edge portion of one of the terminal sections that extends beyond the edge of the other terminal section. For each multiple contact terminal, a dielectric insulator barrier is secured over the end thereof which is inserted into the connector, the barrier having thereon spaced projections which extend between the spaced contacts of the respective terminal.